Improvement in musical instruments



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

GEORGE WOODS, OE CAMBRIDGE, ASSIGNOR TO MASON & HAMLIN, OF

, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 49,453, dated August 15, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, GEORGE WOODS, of Gaim bridge, in the county Ot' Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Musical Instruments; and I do herebydeclare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Y Figure l is a side view, partlyin section, of a portion of a reed-board of a cabinetorgan, with a valve applied thereto made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an under side plan view ofthe same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The object of this invention is to improve thevalves of cabinet-organs and other musical instruments.

It consists in so constructing'the valve that the face thereof shall be free to adjust itself to the valve-seat. Y,

It also consists in a peculiar mode of connecting the face of the Valve toits stock or shank, whereby it can be removed therefrom and replaced merely by laying oft' the spring which holds it against its sea-t.

A. designates a portion ofthe reed-board of l a cabinet-organ.

D is a valve, which is held up or against its seat by the force ot' a spring, F, and is pushed away to open the valve-passage by means of a push-pin, which is operated, as usual, by one of the keys of the instrument. None Ot" the keys or reeds of the instrument are shown in the drawings, and the place of the air or valve passage which is governed by the valve is indicated by the recess made in the lower side of the reed-board. The push-piu is kept coustantly against the face of the valve by an elastic strap, C, or other suitable device. The face of the valve is clothed with cloth and leather or other suitable material.

E is a piece of wood, hinged to a rail at G and extending behind or beneath the valve and parallel with the valve-seat, as seen in the drawings. This piece E carries the valve in the manner shown in the drawings, tlieirplace of contact being about the center ofthe length of the valve, where, beneath the push-pin, a piece of cloth or leather, 7L, is interposed be` tween them. The spring F, which closes the valve, rests against the back of the hinged piece E, its i'ree end being received in a groove to keep it from lateral displacement. The valve is held up to its seat by the action of the spring through the medium of the hinged piece E, and it is kept from displacement laterally and longitudiuallyby means of two pins, i and J, the former of which is sharp, and, rising from the face of the piece E to the left of the line in which the push-pin acts, penetrates the adjacent side of the valve and prevents it from slipping or moving on the surface ot' the said hinged piece. The other pin is iixed in and descends from the reed-board on the righthand side of the push-pin, and passes through longitudinal slots It' madein the righthand end of the valve and ofthe hinged piece which carries the valve. A piece of cloth or leather may be interposed between the valve and its carrier, near the slots K.

It will be observed that in this mode of con structing and applying the valve its face is always free to conform tothe surface of the reedboardthat is, to its valve-seat-the fulcrum or point of supportof'the valve being the cushion It beneath the push-pin, one efiect of which construction is to make the valve close and open with greater uniformity than where the valve itself is hinged, the movement of its whole face to and from the reed-board, with this construction, approximating to a move ment in parallel lines.

The valve can be readily detached from the instrument without other labor than simply to lay aside the spring and to lift the valve oft' from the carrier E.; or, if the valve is on the upper side ofthe reed-board, at'ter laying aside the spring, the hinged piece E is raised sufficiently to let the pin 'i clear the valve, when the latter is removed without hinder-ance.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Paten t f v swiss in cabinet-organs and other wind instruments, when they are supported by an outer piece, as here shown, that they can be removed by simply laying aside the spring which holds them up to their seats and lifting the outer pieces, E, or lifting the valve from such pieces, substantially as described.

GEORGE WOODS.

Witnesses:

AUGUsTUs RUss, J AMI-:s B. POTTER. 

